Asteroid Threat Likely in Next 15 Years - UN Encouraged to Plan Defence

The Association of Space Explorers has just completed a comprehensive 2 year study on the safety of our planet. Turns out that a fiery asteroid hurtling towards our earth is the next 15 years is likely and something needs to be done to protect us. The report points out that we are fortunate to have the technology to detect and deflect such asteroids, all that's needed is a coordinated effort to prevent panic from ensuing.

The report envisions a global information network under United Nations command that integrates data from ground and space based telescopes to track threats from Near Earth Objects (NEO).

At present, NASA has the bandwidth to track 209 NEO, none of which is high risk. But as new telescopes become available, this is expected to multiply by 100. Till this point we have been fortunate to only be affected by benign meteorites, but the chances of a fatal asteroid remain high. A unified alert mechanism would allow people to be evacuated as needed. Most of all, it will require the space-faring nations to pool their resources to be able to deflect asteroids off path in time. We can't always count on Bruce WillisBruce Willis to save us from Armageddon.